redvtr1000

David,

The JGF with a 13t pinion might give you a bit more headspeed than stock but I see really no reason why you couldn't run that setup with the stock head. Get the 14t pinion as well and toss it in your box for later. When you get the metal head and are ready for it, it will give you some extra oomph. I never ran the jgf on the stock head but I ran it on the kasama with a 13t pinion and didn't feel like the increase in rpm was more than 100-200 rpm over stock. I need to pick up a tach one of these days...

I wouldn't worry about what the hobby shop guys said. The guys at grandrc.com are excellent for supporting the Kasama products. They make the kasama for the raptor, mini titan, I even think they have it for the 600n now. They ship fast, usually 3 days or so and I have the parts. I keep a spare plastic head around so if I bent something on the head, I can always swap back to the plastic while I wait for parts. I don't doubt the TT metal head either though, I'm sure it works great. I think when you swap to the metal head though, you won't worry so much about it after you see how durable they can be.

I try to break these things to the woman slow as well, that or just order it and toss it in the corner in the hopes that she wont notice. There is already so much stuff sitting there anyway, I can usually slip something in without her noticing

Right now my living room has 4 helis and 3 planks taking up half the room, I've been asking for her to help relocate some of the stuff filling up the bonus room so I could relocate my model stuff up there and actually have a work table. She hasn't gotten to it, maybe if I fill the room where she can't walk without stepping over a katana or raptor...

RC David

Thanks red.

It looks like I will get either the JGF500 or JGF450 motor for this MT and then see how I do trying to fly outdoors (maybe next week). If I do as well as I hope to, I'm thinking about getting another MT (bare bones) and another JGF (or Scorpion) motor (or the MT SE) to fly as backup. If outdoor flying proves to be too much right now, I will look at getting a 500/550 size heli as a second bird to help this noob fight the wind.

I'm slowly breaking it the the better half that I'm looking at "bigger" heli's for flying outdoors ;-) It's hard to hide them because she's the one that always answers the door when the brown truck delivers.

I guess the bottom line is, I want 2 birds so that:

A) If one is down for a week waiting for repair I have something else to fly and

B) I can fly outside with a super-stable heli running a cool motor.


Dave D.

redvtr1000

Dave,

It's a good plan and exactly how I started. I ended up getting an R50 Titan so that I could go to the club field and just fly. It's alot easier on the weekends to just fuel it up rather than wait on batteries. Somehow in that time I managed to pick up a couple foamies and a real nice PA katana md, two LMH nitro helis (use em for training and heli combat!). I love the helis but enjoy flying just about anything around the sky so those models fit the bill nicely.

I'd love to pick up a mid sized electric heli, I'm kinda put off by the price of lipos in that size range so I had to go with the raptor. All in all though, with the price of fuel it probably works out about the same. The Gaui Hurricane 550 is very reasonably priced, on the top of my list if I pick up another heli I suppose.

Once you get the hover basics, and actually fly in windy conditions a time or two, you should find that the Mini titan can handle it pretty good. I've flown in some rather windy conditions and while it will get buffeted around a bit it isn't so bad for just cruising around. Can get a little hairy coming in for landings but I counter that by just getting the thing on the ground, dumping in some negative pitch and then cutting the power. If you are doing a lot of 3d stuff in the wind it is worse, turning the blade disk perpendicular to the wind gives a lot of surface area to get blown around by.

GRR_Mojo

Just hovered my MT for the first time today. I'v been hopping a couple of days when I had the chance and getting my tail servo set. Today lifted off and held it till my timmer went off(6min.) Batt. was starting to run out(ace 2200mah) headspeed was dropping, and at the end it seemed easier to hold. I'm runnin 13T on the obl29/35 with CC 35a.
Was this just me or should I drop to an 11T pinion.

redvtr1000

Mojo,

if you are noticing a drop in headspeed while running a lipo, I would tend to be a little concerned that you may be pushing that pack a bit more than you should. The way lipo chemistry is, within the standard operating range for voltage, I don't think you should be noticing a real drop in headspeed before you hit the cutoff feature in your esc.

I'm figuring that you must be using a 3s because with a stock motor and 2s on 12t i'd be surprised if it flew. I don't think you want to drop the pinion, a more suitable answer would probably be to have a look at your throttle and pitch curves.

Did you use the figures in the mt manual for your radio programming? I did from the get go and after really getting some experience and trying what a friend had programmed for his trex, I am much happier. I could give you the figures I have in my radio if you would like to try them.

If anything, on that stock setup, I found that increasing the headspeed helped it to feel more stable. If you are like me when I just started (or like most people I see who try their hands at anything that flies r/c) your stick movements might be a touch on the large side. Some expo dialed in to soften the response around center might help. I went with 40 % and it might seem a bit high but I fly with my thumbs as opposed to pinching so it makes it much easier for me.

Stock mt with stock wood blades is a power hog. Ditch those woodies after your first tipover in exchange for a set of align blades. I would suggest the cheap align carbons or fiberglass blades, about 14 bucks a set for your choice and they are more durable in a crash than the woodies. Woodies are good too (aligns) but I never crashed one of those sets and had them survive, the black cheezy carbons I had survived a few nasty crashes unbelievably. Thinner profile, less drag, more flight time. You will also need the blade grip spacers to run them.

GRR_Mojo

I was sooo excited about hovering I didn't even think about the cut off,I will have to got through the esc setup again and make sure the cut off is set right.
I set my throttle up per Finless video(0,50,80,90,100), if your settings are different I would like to try them.
I started with 25% expo on aile & elev and 15% on rudd, today I took 5% off aile& elev.
Ordered a set of Align blades and spacers from heli direct.

I have the TG-6100M that came with the ARF plus on gear/gear any suggestion on where to start with the ATV, should I set the pot to 100?

GRR_Mojo

Checked my BEC setup and its not actually the batt going flat ,its the soft shut off.
checked batt with multi-meter, batt read 10.14V.

Ran my ATV on Gear down to +52, this seems close(pot set to 40).

Now I'm just waiting for my batteries to charge.[sm=teeth_smile.gif]

redvtr1000

glad you got that figured out.

I don't know much about that gyro...what are the pots that you are adjusting?

When you get to itching for more batteries, check out the air thunders or kong powers. Good packs for the price and the manufacturer states they are capable of higher charge rates. I'll charge my airthunders at 2c and be done in about 30 minutes. They specifiy up to 3c which is even faster but I haven't pushed them that hard but once or twice.

patatchim

@GRR_Mojo :

I think that the most important times to monitor a battery is when spooling up the blades, and pitch changes. It´s in that time of flight that you can monitor your voltage and see if your battery can take that huge load current.
Also important is watching how well is the cut off working in your esc, normal advised cut off is 3v per cell.

After the flight, voltage readouts maybe quite wrong thing to see, since without load your battery will show a different voltage value than when in load.

xargxar

I just had the worst mid-air boom strike I've ever seen. I decided to try my first loop at 45 feet or so when it just blew up. First half of the loop was fine... it seemed that the boom strike happened when i gave it full negative pitch. Has anybody seen this before on the MT? How can I prevent this in the future?

smarks

How much negative pitch did you have setup?

xargxar

It was a bit high... -14.

osterizer

That's not too high if you have the head speed high enough to keep them from coning into the boom.... Mine is at +/- 12 but also running 3200 RPM with a metal head so it stays pretty flat.

RC David

FIRST OUTDOOR FLIGHT

Well guys, after learning to fly my MT (first heli other than blade CX-2) indoors for about 12 weeks I finally tried to fly her outside today. It was a "HANDFUL". I went down into this retention pond about the size of 3 football fields and 40+ feet deep. It's a little less windy down there. I had my new Kestral wind guage and in the pit the wind was about 5-8 mph continuous with almost constant gusting to 12 mph. That might be calm for you pro's but not for someone who never flew outside before.

I flew 3 packs almost back to back.

I pretty much kept her in front of me facing away, into the wind. I must say, I did not enjoy flying in that wind. I know there will be calmer days but it was a little discouraging. I've been contemplating a 2nd heli and have now decided to go bigger. I like the Thunder Tiger E550 Raptor but it requires larger, more expensive 6s packs so I've decided on a GAUI Hurricane 550 which will run on 2 3s packs.

I can't decide on getting the CF frame/plastic head or plastic frame metal head (GAUI does not offer a CF/metal head version).

Any input from you heli pros would be GREATLY appreciated.


Dave D.

osterizer

Ha, not a pro, but I will mention, that it gets easier. If it was running 5-12 mph inside a hollow, though, I expect it was a bit higher in the open air, and you were probably experiencing a lot of random currents. It seems like the wind is less in shelter, but you get eddies and rotors as the wind spills over the edges that will make it a lot harder to fly. I'd give it a shot in an open area (hopefully with less wind). There's no doubt a larger heli will treat better with the wind, but a larger open area without the messed up airflow is a lot easier even with a smaller one.

[edit] But... now I notice where you live, maybe less wind is only a hope. [/edit]

xargxar

My pitch curve is 100-90-80-90-100. I'm just not sure if it was a pilot error... should i have switched from full positive pitch to negative so quickly? I'm setting -10º and +10 this time and making sure with the pitch gauge.

osterizer

You should be able to pile on negative pretty rapidly without a problem. I use vertical pitch pumps to chack the tail setup, and I've slammed in negative on mine, inverted with way too much cyclic, and never hit the body. It's an aerobatic mini so it has to be able to perform this way.

xargxar

I can only think of a loose blade, then. I don't remember checking for loose blades.

RC David

Thanks Oster.

What you describe with the wind currents was exactly what I was experiencing in that retention area. My next outdoor flights will be in an open field near a school.

I still want something bigger so I'm going with the Hurricane 550.

Brands aside, if you had to choose either:

A) Plastic frame/metal head (will upgrade to CF frame when stock one gets trashed)

OR

B) CF frame/plastic head (will upgrade head parts to metal as needed)

The kits I'm looking at are NOT available with BOTH CF Frame & metal head.


I'm just starting to do FF (I think this means forward flight), nose-in hover and some ugly figure 8's.


Just wanted to get opinions.

Dave D.

ps I actually live in Schaumburg, IL 20 miles west of Chicago but it does get windy here.

osterizer

You know, I noticed that- you can only get one or the other, not both. What the heck is up with that?

Me personally, I'd probably get the metal head, since it's generally cheaper that way, and I almost always update a plastic head eventually. I'm not as much a fan of carbon frames as I am heads that pieces don't fly off.

Just one option- I might just take a look at the prices and decide based on which was less expensive if I expected to do both.

RC David

Thanks.

The one I'm looking at is:

http://www.readyheli.com/204002_Hurr...o_p/204002.htm

redvtr1000 is this the combo you're looking at? I think that's the one I'm going to get.


To keep on topic, I flew my MT in the gym for the last time today (until next fall). It flew great but I got overconfident and almost smacked it onto the wall when I got a little too crazy doing turns. The guys watching me said I really got lucky.

I flew my original canopy which I had dremeled out many more holes and cut some vents from the cracks caused by the 1st crash. The tail twitch at the end of my packs was gone so now I will cut more out of the other canopy. I'm still going to upgrade to a JGF450HS motor since I know it will fly cooler.

Learning to fly indoors was a blast but now it's time to move on... I just have to remember to not let it get too far away and stay away from trees/poles etc.


Dave D.

cameltoe

Hey Guys,
great thread you got here,
Il be getting my MT next week, kit with motor, can you guys recommend servos for it? and is the stock motor any good? cheers

osterizer

The stock motor is OK for learning, but it is stretching to fly the MT if the setup is off even a little.

A lot of people use Hitec HS65 servos on the swash, but they're not a drop-in fit. Futaba S3107s and S3153s are.

You might want to consider registering a different id than "cameltoe" -some folks won't want to include pornographic references in their posts.

RC David

I crashed my mini-Titan today :-( .

To begin with I flew 3 packs at one flying field near me just fine (this only my 3rd time outdoors). I did some hovering, turns and circles and then a bunch of fly-by's going about 100 feet to my right and 100 feet to my left. It was AWESOME as I had not really done that yet. Then I had to be in another suburb in the afternoon so took it to a different flying field to use the last 3 packs. BAD IDEA!!!

This was a field where the "pattern flyers" frown upon ANY heli in their field but I stuck to the area that heli's are supposed to. I can't even tell you how I dumped it other than it was a little far away from me (80-100 feet maybe) about 4-5 feet off the ground near a tree-line and when bringing it around, I tipped it and blades hit dirt. I tried to hit throttle hold as fast I as could.

Looks like damage was only blades, 1 side of flybar bent a little and one leg of CF training gear split. I bent the flybar back as straight as I could (I think I did the same after my first tip-over type crash). I'm picking a new flybar up tomorrow at the LHS just in case.

I have been heeding Oster's warning of "don't fly too far away" but I think the trees/bushes that I was coming VERY close to kind of freaked me out as the wind was blowing the heli right into them. I also tend to decend when I get far because I have this fear of the wind carrying it away and getting so far that I lose orientation and crash.

Anyway, I spooled her up now with no blades (and then stock woodies) and she seems ok. I hope to fly a pack or 2 tomorrow to test.

If it is, I'd say that's a testament to how rugged the mini-Titan is.

Dave D.

redvtr1000

it is rather tough and you may have gotten a bit lucky. Usually, I end up finding that the feathering shaft or main is at least slightly bent. If you spooled it up with blades and it didn't seem to shake then you may be ok.
For a second crash though, it sounds like you are doing pretty good.

I flew mine 4 packs yesterday after finishing up the head setup and adjusting the tail. Did some flips and rolls, tried some inverted hovers at altitude with it that stuff is definitely easier on the 50 size....